


Reading Together

by Cutekittenlady



Series: Black Paladin Zarkon AU [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bedtime Stories, F/M, Gen, Gen Fic, Good Things Happen Bingo, Reading Together, bpz au, descriptions of violence, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23470963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cutekittenlady/pseuds/Cutekittenlady
Summary: Kevin convinces Krolia to try telling Keith some Galran bedtime stories.This is a decision he may come to regret.
Relationships: Keith & Keith's Father & Krolia, Keith & Keith's Father (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron)
Series: Black Paladin Zarkon AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1003086
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: Good Things Happen Bingo





	Reading Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eastofthemoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/gifts).



The stories people read and told were funny things. Every culture seemed to have a collection of classics that were practically memorized in the collective conciousness of it’s people. It was impossible to predict what the overall tone of such collections would be, or even if any sort of pattern would be present.

Krolia couldn't help but think of these things as she listened to Kevin read their son a bedtime story.

“—and so Snow White rode away with the Prince and they lived happily ever after.”

She heard the book close with a clump and Kevin moving out of the bed to carry Keith to his room. After a while, he returned and turned the bedside lamp out before crawling back into bed.

“So, what did ya think?”

Krolia flushed and didn’t answer.

“I know you’re awake.” She could hear the teasing smile.

“A while,” Kevin replied, resting his arms behind his head.

Krolia pouted, “You could have said.”

“I figured it was a pride thing,” he shrugged, “there are plenty of humans who like bedtime stories. Though they pretend not to.”

“Are all of your stories about ancient royalty?”

“Nah,” He said shaking his head, “and it ain’t really based on history. At least, I mean, some might be but if so no one remembers the source.”

“Then why continue telling them?”

Kevin hummed an “I dunno.”

Krolia hummed in return.

“Do the Galra tell stories to their kids?”

“Yes,” she answered carefully, “they are nothing like yours though.”

“Maybe you should tell Keith some of those stories,” Kevin suggested, “He is half galra after all. It’d do him some good to learn a bit of the culture.”

Krolia hesitated, “I don’t know. Galran stories are not precisely… innocent.”

Her husband chuckled, “Human stories aren’t that innocent either. Most of the stories we tell our kids now were way bloodier when they were originally written.”

“I do not think you quite understand.” she insisted, “They are not just stories. We use them to teach our history, and our history isn’t very nice.”

“Neither is Earth’s.” He reminded her, “C’mon now, we’ll give it one try. Tomorrow night?”

Krolia wrestled with indecision before finally answering, “Alright. I’ll try to remember one to tell him for tomorrow night.”

Kevin smiled and kissed her cheek, “Looking forward to it.”

* * *

“—and so King Globor perched the heads of his slaughtered enemies upon pikes and used them to mark the borders of his territory. Resulting in a yearly tradition of placing a Quabalot root outside of our houses to ward off ill intent.”

Kevin stared at the ceiling in silence. The last half-hour had been educational. Mostly in the many creative and vivid ways, simple farming utensils could be used in gruesome guerilla warfare, but educational nonetheless.

The Galra, or at least whatever Galra had recorded this particular tale, evidently didn’t believe in hiding uncomfortable truths of reality from their children. Rather than tell their unknowing kids that their pet space gerbil had gone off to live on some farm somewhere, they would take them out back and play a very educational game of burying an appropriately sized bundle in a shallow grave complete with a headstone with a name like ‘Mr. Fuzzy’ crudely written in crayon. Not that Kevin had ever asked Krolia what her people did with their dead, though he was now suddenly very curious.

He’d been a bit worried that Keith would start to get scared about a quarter of the way through the tale when the first beheading took place, but that fear was quickly replaced with a new one when their young son instead showed a rapt new interest in precisely how Globor intended to make good on his bet of removing all three of the guardsmen's teeth at the same time. It was the kind of childish interest any kid got when they were introduced to the idea of distant impersonal violence for the first time, he knew, but Kevin still couldn’t help but wonder if he was underreacting. His own parents had always been very careful with just what kind of content he’d been exposed to as a kid out of some fear of ‘poisoning his mind’ with things like bloodless violence and the realities of human reproduction. 

They’d meant well, of course, but it had been rather humiliating going to college and finding out you were the only guy in the dorm who didn’t know about  _ certain things _ .

Kevin resolved to see how it played out.

“What’s a Quabwa-quiba-Caba, uh, the root thing?” Keith asked in interest as Krolia carried him away.

“A native root on Daibazaal. It would often grow in such a way that resembled a face. Eating it was thought to be good for headaches.”

Keith gave an “Oh” sound but showed no sign of distress.

When Krolia came back she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Was that okay?” she asked. “You gasped several times.”

“It was, uh,” Kevin muttered, “very different.”

“The bad kind of different?” She asked worriedly.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he replied loyally. “Just… weren’t there any stories that weren’t so… beheady?”

He was afraid she’d get upset, but instead, she just chuckled, “Unfortunately, no. Not very serious is it? It has got to be the least practical way of dealing with an opponent.”

This explanation only raised further questions, but Kevin quelled them.

“I mean… are there any with less blood?”

“Yes, but they aren’t as popular or well known on Daibazaal.” She explained. “There are plenty of folk tales about heroes using their wits and intellect, but they also tend to get a little…” here she blushed, “ _ —blue _ . They’re usually told amongst adults you see. Typically over a few shots of something strong. So I thought the other kind would be more appropriate.”

“Yeah, I think I can see that. But, uh, are there any that are less… scary?”

She blinked, “The Ridiculous Rendition of King Globor was scary to you?”

The way Krolia said that made Kevin blush. 

“Ah, no!” He protested a bit too strongly, “just, uh, worried that it might scare Keith.”

However, Krolia wasn’t fooled for an instant.

She smiled and said, “Maybe one of these days I’ll tell you The Terrifying Tale of Lord Zalazar the Gentle?”

“Mmmaybe,” he said rolling over in bed and turning on the bedside lamp as a makeshift nightlight, “some other time perhaps. With the lights on. While the suns up.”


End file.
